Brockton NAACP chapter aims to revive

The Brockton-Plymouth County chapter of the national civil rights organization has resumed activity after almost three years of struggle. It’s one of the state’s oldest chapters.

By Lane Lambert

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Lane Lambert

Posted Aug. 13, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Aug 13, 2013 at 1:11 PM

By Lane Lambert

Posted Aug. 13, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Aug 13, 2013 at 1:11 PM

BROCKTON

» Social News

After years of struggle, one of New England’s oldest chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is getting a restart.

The Brockton chapter – which includes Plymouth County and part of Norfolk County – has held elections and resumed monthly meetings for the first time in almost three years.

“We’re re-igniting,” new president Stephen Bernard of Brockton said.

Bernard, a financial consultant with Oppenheimer Funds in Boston, said the group will focus on voter registration and other forms of “civic engagement.”

The chapter’s revival comes as the nation prepares to observe the 50th anniversary of the landmark “March On Washington,” which is best known for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.

Bernard said the group already has about 100 members, and expects to send representatives to the Aug. 24 commemorative march in Washington. He said members would go as part of a group from the New England NAACP Conference.

Quincy-area members are affiliated with the Boston branch. Chartered in 1911, the Boston group is the nation’s oldest NAACP branch.

Bernard’s grandfather, Harry Bernard, organized the Brockton chapter in 1954, the year of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education decision, which declared “separate but equal” schools unconstitutional.

Starting in August, the chapter will hold open meetings on the fourth Monday of each month at 7 p.m. at Messiah Baptist Church, 80 Legion Parkway in Brockton. For information on the group, call 508-587-0502.